Brush Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic

New bowl isn't new for Colorado State football

Arizona Bowl hopes to make an impression on Mountain West teams

By Mike Brohard

Sports Editor

Posted:
12/07/2015 06:08:56 PM MST

Updated:
12/08/2015 10:09:19 AM MST

FORT COLLINS — Opening up a bowl game is nothing new for the Colorado State football team. Alan Young, the chief operating officer of the Arizona Sports and Entertainment Commission, hopes his group's newest creation will live up to the Rams' expectations.

"That's what our goal is, to make sure it's a good experience for the players and the fans, but mainly the players and the seniors," Young said Monday. "That's what it's all about."

Colorado State previously played in the first New Orleans Bowl (2001) and Poinsettia Bowl (2005).

The Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl received clearance from the NCAA in March, but getting it played this season didn't become official until August when then the group landed a title sponsor, allowing it to draw from a pool of teams from either the Mountain West, Conference USA or the Sun Belt. In the end, the game landed two from the Mountain West, a rarity that has given the first-year contest more initial publicity than it could have hoped to receive.

Colorado State tackle Sam Carlson said the pairing didn't really take the luster off the experience — the players just look forward to playing in a bowl game.

"Not really. Frankly, we're just excited to be going to the postseason, excited to go and show what we can do," Carlson said.

Advertisement

Young knows people may not like the idea, but he hopes they like the game. The ASEC is a nonprofit, so all proceeds to the game will go to southern Arizona charities. He said there are 60 different groups selling tickets, and each gets to keep half of what they earn. The rest will go into a pool and be distributed among other area charities, with the local Boys and Girls Club earmarked to receive most of the proceeds.

To keep it a successful endeavor, Young wants to make sure the teams are happy, and he said the community has jumped on board to make sure that happens.

Both Colorado State and Nevada will stay at local resorts, both complete with golf courses. On Dec. 27, both teams will go to Old Tucson, a Western experience site where movies and commercials have been filmed, for a steak dinner and bull-riding exhibition.

Even the player's gifts will have a touch of Tucson, as each player will receive a bowl watch, a backpack and hand-made custom boots, with players choosing the style they want, then having them custom fit.

"No. 1 is the player experience," Young said. "We could have a nice meal in a ballroom of a hotel, or we can go to Old Tucson. It's about having an experience that they'll never forget, but also remembering Tucson."

For the fans, outside of the normal activities the city has to offer, there will be a block party Dec. 28 in downtown Tucson, which Young hopes will attract 15,000 people. That time of year, the average temperature is in the 70s, and Young hopes the weather cooperates, too, to provide a memorable experience.

Young said the game is also excited to be digitally charged, with anybody in the world with access to a computer, tablet for phone able to watch the game for free on campusinsiders.com. The game is also being distributed on television nationally, and the Mountain West said so far 75 different markets stretching coast to coast will be able to view the game (including both the Denver and Reno markets), with more than 50 others expected in the coming weeks.

The Mountain West didn't have a figure for the team payout for the game, noting each will receive an expense reimbursement based on travel distance, with all net revenues from ticket sales from all the bowl games going into a pool to be distributed to member institutions. To that end, this game will help that pot, as both teams were given 5,000 tickets to distribute instead of having to buy an allotment like most bowl games. In that regard, each ticket sold by the team will be at a profit.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.